Why this ride
A 209 km round trip from Incheon - roughly 4 h 09 in the saddle. The stops in between: Seosamreung Cluster, Jangneung Cluster, Olleung Cluster and back through Jangneung Cluster.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Seosan Getbol and Olleung Cluster starting at Incheon
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 209 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 09
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Seosan Getbol
Korea's west coast has some of the largest tides on earth. Twice a day the Yellow Sea pulls back for kilometres, exposing vast shining mud flats, the getbol, laced with channels and alive with crabs, mudskippers, worms and shellfish. UNESCO has listed a series of these Korean tidal flats for their extraordinary biodiversity and for the millions of migratory shorebirds that stop here to feed on their way between Siberia and Australia.
Read the complete Seosan Getbol write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Seosan Getbol is where the day begins. Next is Seosamreung Cluster.
2. Seosamreung Cluster
The kings and queens of the Joseon dynasty, who ruled Korea for more than five hundred years until 1910, chose their graves with enormous care. Geomancers studied hills, water and wind to find sites with the right energy, and the royal tombs were laid out with burial mounds, stone guardians, ceremonial halls and long processional paths. Forty of these tombs are listed together by UNESCO as the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, and Seosamreung, the three western tombs in Goyang just north-west of Seoul, is one of the clusters.
Read the complete Seosamreung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Seosamreung Cluster comes up about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jangneung Cluster.
3. Jangneung Cluster
North-west of Seoul, close to where the Imjin river flows into the Han and the demilitarised zone cuts the Korean peninsula in two, lies a royal tomb: Jangneung, the resting place of King Injo, who ruled Joseon in the seventeenth century, and his queen. Injo's reign was marked by invasions from the Manchu, and he was forced to humiliate himself before the Qing emperor in 1637, a defeat that still resonates in Korean memory. His tomb, like the other Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2009, is a grassy mound on a hillside, guarded by stone figures of officials, warriors and animals, with a T-shaped shrine below.
Read the complete Jangneung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 65 km into the recorded legs you reach Jangneung Cluster. Next is Olleung Cluster.
4. Olleung Cluster
Seoul's royal tombs are not all in the city centre, and the ones on this stretch lie in the green country just to the north-west, in a belt of forest, farmland and expanding suburbs that stretches towards the border. The cluster on our list is one of several groups of Joseon dynasty burial mounds, and the nearest sizeable town is Uijeongbu, nearly half a million people, with Goyang just beyond it.
Read the complete Olleung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Olleung Cluster, about halfway. Next is back through Jangneung Cluster.
5. back through Jangneung Cluster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jangneung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Jangneung Cluster sits at 127 km, about halfway. Next is back through Seosamreung Cluster.
6. back through Seosamreung Cluster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Seosamreung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Seosamreung Cluster comes up about 170 km into the recorded legs. Next is Seosan Getbol.
7. Seosan Getbol
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Seosan Getbol write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Seosan Getbol closes the day.
Leg by leg
Seosan Getbol to Seosamreung Cluster
Seosan Getbol → Seosamreung Cluster is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Seosamreung Cluster to Jangneung Cluster
Seosamreung Cluster → Jangneung Cluster is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jangneung Cluster to Olleung Cluster
Jangneung Cluster → Olleung Cluster is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Olleung Cluster to back through Jangneung Cluster
Olleung Cluster → back through Jangneung Cluster is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jangneung Cluster to back through Seosamreung Cluster
back through Jangneung Cluster → back through Seosamreung Cluster is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Seosamreung Cluster to Seosan Getbol
back through Seosamreung Cluster → Seosan Getbol is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.